Over the years, an increasing amount of audio and video content has become available to consumers through broadcast, cable, on-demand, fixed media, and other available sources of multimedia content. Consumers therefore have easy access to an increasing amount of content and programming. Furthermore, there are many devices (e.g., PCs, DVD recorders) and services readily available that allow consumers to view multimedia content.
Generally, unused regions or “black bars” result from a mismatch between the video aspect ratio and the aspect ratio of the display on which the video is being viewed. For example, a movie with an aspect ratio of 16:9 that is being viewed on a television with an aspect ratio of 4:3 will usually be accompanied by black bars displayed above and below the video. Generally, this is known as letterboxing. The term letterboxing refers to transferring or displaying widescreen video content such as films to displays with a different aspect ratio (e.g., 4:3) while preserving the original aspect ratio of the widescreen video content. The result is that a portion of the video display will contain black bars above and below the movie. If letterboxing is not implemented, the alternative is that the original widescreen video content must be cropped in order to accommodate the 4:3 ratio of television screens. Letterboxing offers the advantage of allowing the viewer to view the video as originally viewed in the theater. Finally, it should be noted that even on widescreen televisions with a 16:9 aspect ratio, letterboxing might still be necessary in some instances because some movies are filmed in even wider formats (2.35:1, 1.78:1, 1.85:1, 2.40:1, etc.). As a result, black bars still appear on the display.
For many viewers, subtitles or closed captioning plays an integral part in being able to fully experience a particular film or television program. For some viewers, closed captioning is an important means for allowing them to follow dialog that takes place during the course of a film or television program. For others, subtitles allow viewers to follow dialog in another language. Subtitles and closed captioning may be displayed in a number of ways. In some instances, the words appear from left to right, one line at a time, in a scrolling fashion. In other instances, the words for a spoken sentence may appear all at one time on the screen. This style of closed captioning is common for pre-recorded content such as television programs and movies. Regardless of the manner in which closed captioning or subtitles are displayed, one common problem is that subtitles or closed captioning are generally shown in a fixed location of the display, and in many instances, will obstruct a portion of the viewing area. Therefore, a need exists in the industry to address these deficiencies and inadequacies.